The EirGrid National Control Centre in Dublin, where power demand and flows are balanced 24/7

EirGrid has created a new Twitter handle to communicate hourly updates on power system demand, outputs from wind generation, frequency and interconnection flows from the all-Ireland transmission system.

The State-owned company, which operates the power system in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the wholesale electricity market in both jurisdictions, is aiming to provide people with more electricity system information on a 24/7 basis via the new Twitter handle @EirGrid_Info.

Fintan Slye, EirGrid’s chief executive, said the new feed will provide real-time automated system information on an hourly basis for system demand, wind generation, system frequency and net interconnection.

"The best thing about this innovation is how accessible it is to anyone interested in electricity and renewables," said Slye.

EirGrid, which last September opened the East-West Interconnector, Ireland’s first electricity link with Britain, is planning a €500m overhead power line to connect Munster with Leinster.

The Grid Link project is set to connect the provinces with a new 400kV overhead circuit. It is part of EirGrid’s €3.2bn Grid25 strategy to upgrade Ireland’s electricity transmission grid by 2025.

Speaking to Siliconrepublic.com in January, John Lowry, project manager for the Grid Link project, said the aim is to have the infrastructure ready by 2020.

He said that once the grid link is built, it will have the scope to integrate more renewables into the electricity grid.

Last year, EirGrid also teamed up with the NDRC to launch a new innovation hub around the smart grid. The idea of the hub is to provide a testing environment for entrepreneurs, academics and companies with ideas for smart grid solutions.